The Accipiter - On The Park December 2007

On the Park - December 2007

Paul Betchley, who joined as a falconer last year, soon revealed his extra hidden talents to us all. It’s great to have an enthusiastic wildlife artist amongst us and, if like me you don’t have a clue how to draw anything much beyond stick men and can only look at a beautiful line drawing of a barn owl in wonder, here’s the answer to the question ‘how on earth do you do that?’…

An Artistic Perspective of Raptors

With this being my first article, I thought I would bring a slightly different introduction: ‘an artistic perspective of raptors.’ I have always had a love for wildlife art and I just can’t help but be inspired everyday, surrounded by such beautiful subjects at the Hawk Conservancy Trust. With this article I would like to bring you a step-by-sep example of one of my drawings, I hope to show that it isn’t as hard as you might think. By following a few simple steps, I believe that everybody can draw!

For this example, I have chosen a firm favourite: the Barn Owl. This picture focuses specifically on the head of the owl.

	Step 1: Basic shapes If you can draw a circle, you can draw a Barn Owl’s head. All you are after first is the shape of the head, facial disk, eyes and beak. A cross in the middle of the head should help you to position the eyes and the beak correctly.
	Step 2: Initial detail When you are happy with the outline shape, you can begin completing the initial detail. I always start with one of the eyes and move outwards from there. If you are left-handed, like me, it is easier to start with the right eye so as not to smudge the picture as you move towards the left-hand-side (this would be the reverse if you are right-handed). When drawing feathers, always try to use one stroke at a time and to follow the line of the feather, not just to scribble.
	Step 3: Further detail Follow the above technique until you are happy with the shaping of the picture. Don’t worry at this stage about highlights; you can do these at the end.
	Step 4: Finishing touches Now comes the really good bit, the part which I love as it makes the picture come to life: Using a slightly softer pencil and just pressing a little harder on the page, darken off the low lights. Being such a light-coloured owl, the highlights on the facial feathers can be achieved by simply using an eraser to rub out the very light patches on the face. Eye shine – this will really bring the owl to life: using a little white paint, dab two little dots on each eye, one slightly larger than the other.
	Step 5: Completion Step back and admire your picture!

So there it is; a very brief guide to wildlife art. You see, it’s not that hard! I hope you will be inspired by the wonderful subjects at the Hawk Conservancy Trust and try some art of your own!

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